Let’s Go Anywhere
Seattle, WA
We are setting off to start our our new life in Melbourne, Australia. With us on this adventure is as little as we could imagine bringing to a new home halfway around the world, . Two bags for each of us to last until our half container pod of remaining essentials (and some not so) are set to arrive 4-6 weeks after we do.
We bid adieu to Alley 24, our home for nearly four years, tossed our two bags into the Subaru for the last time and drove up to Ballard to crash in our friend’s 4’ by 7’ TV room. This will be our cozy accommodations for four nights until our flight on the 20th. Sometime in that span we’ll be selling our trusty steed and further shedding some last possessions that missed the boat but can’t be justified in the checked luggage.
Now that we are unemployed, transient couch surfers the enormity of the move must be faced. No more second guessing the decision, no more dreamy discussions. Now just real, live logistics – an AirBnB, work visas, money transfers, international shipping manifestos, packing re-packing our luggage.
We’ll be there soon and once we arrive we’ll do our best to document our adventure here so feel free to follow along as we share the highlights of our life Down Under.
Arrival in Melbourne
Melbourne, Vic
A full twenty-four hours after leaving Seattle – via our scheduled Los Angeles stop and our unscheduled Sydney one – we arrived in Melbourne. Immigration and customs took a matter of minutes, either a nod to Australian efficiency or, possibly, apathy. Our journey to the taxi stand took us outside and into the heat, a very welcome 36C (97F) heat. As our cab headed into the city our fatigue and exhaustion melted away as our new home came into view out of the car windows. We had made it. Our new lives here were a blank canvass waiting for us to fill them with memories of a lifetime. This blew a strong wind into our sails; ready we were to see what this continent has to offer.
After a few wrong turns down some tricky one-way alleys, our driver found our AirBNB flat (apartment) and set us free. We dumped our luggage, changed into our bathers (swimsuits) and headed down to the St. Kilda beach to showcase the whitest skin in all of Oz (Australia), perhaps the Southern Hemisphere. In the mid-arvo (afternoon),our hunger pangs drove us from the beach to Fitzroy Street for a snack. We cashed in our gift certificate to Milk the Cow, a wine and cheese shop near the beach. All manner of fancy spreads and cuts were brought our way; all consumed in short order. We retired for our first night down under, but not before catching a few matches of The Tennis (The Australian Open) on The Tele (TV).
Settling In
Melbourne, Vic
On our first full day, we dove right into the culture with a cup of morning tea out on our deck. The cool, marine breeze of the early morning soon gave way to summer heat. We took a long walk along the Bay Trail down to Point Ormond. The way back was warm; the heat, the sweat, the sun on our skin all so wonderful after the last few months in wet and cool Pacific Northwest. We live here now.
The Tennis
Melbourne, Vic
For three weeks in late January / early February all eyes – in the tennis world at least – are on Melbourne and the Australian Open. Or, more affectionately referred to here on the ground as The Tennis . The cultural immersion program we had set for ourselves dictate that we attend, and that we did. A gorgeous, sunny Saturday with temperatures near 30C (86F), we arrived early, as did the rest of the city. Tickets to the two main courts were sold out so we settled for ground passes. A ground pass allows access to all other venues but main courts, including the very large Hisense Arena. Our lacking of planning did mean we’d miss Venus Williams’ match; however, our early did permit a showing of Serena practicing from up close, so not all was lost. It should not go unmentioned that the lines to enter the cultural events – the beer and wine gardens – stretched on to the far reaches of the grounds as Melbourne’s 20-somethings shook off last night’s hangover queued up for another run at it. No prom or gala in America had anything on this scene.
Serena’s practice session sated our patriotic hunger; next on to Hisense and some actual matches. Prior to the opening 11am match seats were plentiful. As rookies do, we made a rookie mistake and sat in the glaring sun, amazed at why such good seats were available when less optimal ones (shaded) were taken. A few hours later, the place was packed and we were sweating through our clothes, the full power of antipodal sun baking our northern bodies. We endured two hours of roasting to see the Spaniard, Muguruza down Bacsinszky of Switzerland in a hard fought women’s singles match. A welcome relief as the shade enveloped us for match two. Here, the 8th ranked Montenegro-Canadian Milos Raonic used his 220+ km/h serve to breeze by the scrappy Benjamin Becker of Germany.
The grounds were throbbing full at this point and, needing food and drink, we called it a day and left for home. Our hunger and thirst pulled us into a pit stop at the Royal Croquet Club’s (RCC) off-site Aussie Open extravaganza…basically a massive beer garden with food trucks, croquet courts and a DJ spinning house music. Attendance was minimal – it was early – but judging by the size of the beer stands it would become a righteous rave later in the evening. Still jet lagged and a good decade older than the likely demographic, we could not muster the resolve to go on a day long drinking spree and, after a delicious snack and two Hahn Lights made our way home. Cultural immersion complete.
Market Day
Melbourne, Vic
The Queen Victoria Market is both a tourist trap full of fake Australian Outback hats and crocodile wallets as well as fully functional grocery store and mercantile. Where else can you buy a pallet of kangaroo pelts, mystery crystals, footie gear, toothpaste, antique collectibles and a dozen duck eggs all in the same place? There is truly something for everyone. We bought none of the above, instead spending most our time investigating the widest variety of cured meats we’d ever seen.
[Erin] Being from Seattle, my expectations of coffee are high. Melbourne’s reputation as having a world class coffee culture proceeds it. In the three days we’ve been here, I’ve found it to be as promised and have been been gleefully sampling from a variety of new favorite, local cafes. Market Lane Coffee has a corner shop in the Queen Vic Market and since I wasn’t really sure what a flat white or a long black would end up as, I ordered a cappuccino like a pro, right up until I tried to pay for a $4 coffee with two 20 cent coins. (For some reason the smaller coins are larger amounts here). After Googling “long black” I decided it would be the closest to my Americano order back home and I can avoid looking like a complete dumbass next time. I am also adding this bit of information to save you all from Googling long black in the workplace.
With Market bags in hand and caffeine needs met, we took the tram back to our temporary home in St. Kilda for a sunny lunch on our patio. At some point we will stop acting like this is a vacation and get on with the details of finding a house, but not quite yet…
’Stralia Day
Melbourne, Vic
Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of the British First Fleet in the Sydney Cove. We expected something like an Australian Fourth of July extravaganza. On account of souring public opinion over the ensuing treatment of the Aboriginal peoples, the reality of the holiday is something closer to a modest Columbus Day barbecue. As luck so had it, an old classmate of Erin’s had recently moved to Melbourne and had extended to us an invite to a afternoon party out in Wattle Park, east of the city. On the (not to scale) Melbourne tram map, it looked close enough. Ignorant of the speed, or lack thereof, of the tram system, we jumped aboard the 16 east then north through St. Kilda East, Balacava, Caulfield North, Malvern, Kooyong and then Hawthorn where we transferred to the 70 where upon we crawled through Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Surrey Hills and finally into Box Hill South, home to the Park of Wattle. Along the way we were overtaken by many a cyclist, scooter, rickshaw, jitney, wheelchair, pram, stray dog; really anything wheeled or anyone particularly fleet of foot was bound to pass us eventually.
We arrived eventually, the beer that we purchased earlier now fully the temperature of the ambient air. The small fete was enjoyable, a good chance to meet some local people and test our new land’s ability to through a bash. Marooned out here in the burbs, the only economically sensible thing to do was to ride the same slow pony back to town…at least we knew what to expect this time. We rewarded ourselves for our arduous travels with some of the world’s greatest frozen yogurt, Yo-Chi. To walk off these excess calories, we ambled down to the beach to watch the sun dip below the gentle waves of Port Phillip Bay.
Back to Work
University of Melbourne, Vic
The fun had to end eventually, I was down here for a job after all. Mind you I wasn’t headed to the salt mines or anything resembling difficult physical labor, but coming back to a schedule and being responsible to an employer was a unwelcome change nonetheless.
I arrived to the brand new Melbourne School of Design (MSD) building and my 9:30 appointment to find that my name was not in the system. As a result, I I could not be granted my ID card, login information, email, etc. Really anything that would permit me to do any actual work, administrative or otherwise. I was, however, awarded my complimentary kitchen set (with a tea mug of my favorite color). This is the warm welcome I had been expecting.
Additionally, due to some scheduling issues, there is a squatter in my current office for the next few weeks. I have been set up with with a temporary space in a large group meeting-type room (with adequate space for my tea set). It is comfortable enough and my office mates are quite, albiet a bit weird.
I was starting to wonder if I actually had a job here, but in wandering the halls I did locate a door with my name on it…so I guess that is a good sign. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to commence my tenure at the University. For now, I’m just a visitor stuck in a room with mannequins busy balancing his spoon on his nose while shotgunning lukewarm, free tea. Oh yeah, and every time I leave the room to go to the bathroom I need to place a chair in the door lest it close behind me and lock me out.
Beach Boxes
Brighton, Vic
When not outside basking in the glorious January weather, we are busy on Domain.com.au searching for a place to live. This either means walking or taking the trams/trains to different neighborhoods around the city until we are exhausted or sunburned, often both. Our standard operating procedure once in such a condition is to find refuge and relief in a gelato or frozen yogurt shop. I dare you to judge us.
Recently we found ourselves in Brighton touring a home for which we didn’t really have the budget to rent. Brighton is a beautiful, higher end location just inland from a sparkling white beach. Like a crow drawn to shiny objects, Erin gravitates towards bright colors and patterns. Our visit to the famous Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes was no short affair.
Sticking our toes in the sand and watching the tourists (ourselves not included; we are locals after all) was a needed distraction from the stress of finding a home. The rental process here is, well, odd. Open houses or inspections, as they are referred to, are 15 minute affairs, and unfurnished rentals don’t come with a washer/dryer, dishwasher or refrigerator unless you are lucky. As a result, the next time we move, we will be the proud owners of a bunch of big ass appliances. Two of the houses that we really like have inspection times tomorrow, unwittingly with overlapping 15 minute periods and across town from one another. We will divide and conquer, and hopefully trust the other’s judgment…but for now, we worry not about this and relax on the beach dreaming of our next cool, sugary treat.
In Search of a Home
Melbourne, Vic
We are still vagabonds, living off of takeout at our small, but comfortable AirBnB in the heart of St. Kilda. We put in an application for the small brick homes in the photo below. There are no guarantees here in this ‘lottery for a rental home’ system. It is just one of hundreds that we’ve looked at online and one of a handful that we’ve inspected and applied for. We feel like we have a good chance here because it isn’t the in the hip, cool neighborhoods north of the city, but in a quieter, family-ish area to the south. All the better for us as we prefer beaches and parks to bars and brunches anyways.
This process has been, well, exhausting. Our past weekend consisted mostly of jumping on and off various trams to schlep around to far-flung areas of the city in order to inspect homes or check out new neighborhoods. At some of the more glamorously located places, the crowds are insane; over 50 people showed up to a house Saturday morning. All this bandying about has its benefits – we stumbled on a wild Chinese New Year celebration, have found some of the city’s best architecture, sampled even more frozen yogurt and gelato shops and even procured Erin her first (likely of many) Australian meat pies. We know some tram routes by heart and now have a pretty good sense of what is overpriced. All this local knowledge should also help me in the classroom where my first day of teaching is soon approaching.
Not So Super Bowl
Prahran, Vic
9am Monday morning and we are headed to a bar. A friend of a friend had invited us out to the College Lawn Hotel in Prahran neighborhood. Entrance was pricey, but we did get all you could drink beers and wines and a wide variety of free bar foods. Upon arrival, we noticed the 12th man flag in the window. We had made a good choice.
The place filled quickly and there were about 200 people jammed in by the time the game started. Its a big place, with numerous outdoor beer gardens, separate rooms and bars, so it never really felt too crowded. I’d guess it was about 50% Seahawks fans, 30% Patriots fans, 10% random NFL jerseys (Barry Sanders, an old Darrelle Revis Jets and Mark Chmura…ok, no Mark Chmura) with the balance made up of about 20 odd Aussie dudes who didn’t care much for the game, but couldn’t seem to pass up all-you-could drink event on a Monday morning.
We met about a dozen people from Seattle or the surrounding area, including one ex-Seattleite whose name was, I kid you not, Erin Krause. The people and the atmosphere were great, the beer was good and the food was, well, filling. We’ll stop there as nothing really needs to be said about the game itself….at least we had an ample selection of decent Australian microbrews (and Heineken) to kill the pain.
How Ya Goin?
Albert Park, Vic
After many tours, followup emails and countless hours scouring online listings, we finally secured a place to live. It is a wee Victorian cottage in a neighborhood called Albert Park. It is a quaint, but upscale little area with adequate, but not hip, amenities and, importantly, is only a walk or short bike ride to the beach and a direct tram ride away from the University and downtown Melbourne. We are undoubtedly bringing down the median income for the area. We get the keys on Friday, so we will share more later in the week about the house.
Today, Erin focused on some early neighborhood reconnaissance today. Near our house this is another open air market, the South Melbourne Market. Compared to the Victoria Market we visited last week. This market is much smaller, but it still has amazing variety and yet better prices. It is less catered to the tourists and more toward locals looking for their groceries, staple items and delicious meals. Specialty shops abound, like the Tea Drop an entire booth dedicated to exotic and high end teas. It has Easter egg colored canisters stacked so high, it necessitated a ladder to reach them. And that bookstore-style ladder is not just some trendy design detail, my own order required its use.
Picking her way slowly my way stall by stall through the market, Erin continued to come across the same issue we’ve both have had for the past two weeks of meeting and greeting friendly Aussies. Instead of the “G’day” that everyone in America expects Australians to say, we almost always get some slurred version of ‘How ya goin’ or ‘How’re ya going?’ This obviously means ‘Hi, How are you doing?’, and so we usually answer ‘Good’, but every single time there is an urgeto answer the question of where I’m going or how I got here, By tram? St. Kilda? I walked?
Knowing that we’d soon be leaving our St.Kilda apartment we spent our evening with a dinner at Babu Ji a fashionable Indian restaurant just down the street. For a bit more than the cost of standard meal, the quality was outstanding. Some of most unique Indian flavors we each have ever tasted. We are quite grateful that our new home is just a short tram ride away from this gem. To aid in the digestion of this large meal, we concluded with a nice long walk along St.Kilda Beach. Our home beach for just a few more days, until we relocated a mile or so to the west.
Ikea-a-thon
Richmond, Vic
We now have a house. It is filled with exactly nothing as all we own here are the bags we brought on the plane (and the various suncreens Andy has hoarded in the past two weeks) and those are still at the Airbnb we have for a few more days. So we went shopping. Furniture shopping – the seventh level of hell for one of us. In fact, Andy might prefer any of the following over furniture shopping: going to the dentist, watching period-piece dramas and line dancing. All of this shopping was, however, book-ended by two outdoor festival-type events and fun pit stops along the way – which is probably why we got through it in one piece. And, not only does Andy now know the difference between a left and right chaise lounge but he can spot pebble weave upholstery from 50 meters out….
All of the things that we couldn’t physically carry out of the store will be delivered to our home sometime in the next week. Hopefully our number of days of sleeping on the floor will be exactly zero.
Overall, our weekend went something like this:
(Fri) South Melbourne Market night market complete with delicious street paella.
(Sat) Some suburban Ikea and Domain Housewares Mall (think Ron Swanson’s personal hell).
(Sun AM) West Elm, then urban Ikea (yes, multiple Ikeas in a weekend)
(Sun PM) The St. Kilda Festival with 300,000 of our fellow Melburnians…right in our back yard.
Moving In
Albert Park, Vic
This entire blog post could be about nothing more than the series of minor failures that we have had in the past week while moving into our new home. Instead, we will channel the positive and enlighten you with the few, but crucial wins we have had secured.
To begin, we are now the proud owners of a complete set of ‘white goods’ – washing machine, dryer, and refrigerator. True adults are we. Once past the initial annoyance of knowing that we would have to not only buy these and but then also move them around to each place we will rent in the city we have become quite attached to them. Not so far as to name them, though. Not yet.
As our shipping crate of things – some necessary and others not – has been delayed until late March, we are trying to get by living minimally until then. While temporarily living with ‘just the essentials’ seems simple enough, it really isn’t as fun as it sounds to cook a full meal in one pot, or share one towel or sleep on a bed frame without the proper slats, therefore folding the mattress like a burrito, (one of many IKEA fails). To remedy this, Erin broke down and just started buying things we needed. As satisfying as it felt to start filling up the house, without a car, she was the girl walking a mile and a half with a stainless steel garbage can balanced on her head, and then back a mile and a half to return it when she realized it didn’t work with a plastic bag since, per the shopkeeper, you were just supposed to rinse out the plastic liner each time (?). Okay, so in the end we did share some of the fails; some things are too good to keep to oneself.
Back in the win column, we also bought bikes this week. This affair took an entire afternoon but we ended up with two beautiful road bikes at a bargain price as well as finding ourselves a new and very Lithuanian friend. Test riding the bikes was a little horrific at first since biking on the wrong side of the road is only slightly less jarring than driving on the wrong side, but we caught on quick. It took a little convincing our friend that Erin wasn’t completely helpless on a bike, and in the end we both walked away with men’s bikes. Erin was informed this men’s bike would fit her fine due to her “gentlemen’s shoulders”. We also learned more than we wanted to know about a recent crime epidemic in Footscray, the state of immigration politics in Australia and tips for maintaining proper brake cable tightness.
Our new wheels allowed us to explore farther and faster than before. This offered a needed break from hours of Ikea instruction following. It is also provided much needed practice at operating on the opposite side of street as we will, eventually, find ourselves driving down here.
by Andy Krause
andy@andykrause.com